Journaling is a great way to develop your skills as a leader and grow. It will help you get in touch with your emotions and thoughts, which can be hard to do when you are busy leading your team. It’s also a great way to keep track of your thoughts and actions, and it can help you reflect on your progress and identify areas where you need to develop further.
How to start journaling
A great way to explore your thoughts and feelings, journaling provides you with the space to process your thoughts and feelings in an organized manner. A journal can be anything from a physical notebook, to an app on your phone, or even a blog post. What is key is that it’s yours and you can use it in any way that works best for you. Some people like to keep a daily journal while others might like to journal every few days or just once a week. Whichever way you choose it is important to maintain consistency in writing to reap the most benefits.
Benefits of keeping a journal
The benefits of journaling are numerous. One of the most important benefits is that it helps you become a better leader by keeping track of your thought process and what you do in order to make sure that you’re taking the right steps. A lot of successful business leaders have kept journals throughout their career and have shared some of their insights from these journals. Here are some of the benefits that journaling has for leaders:
1. Improved mental and emotional health
Writing in a journal helps a leader stay in touch with their emotions, and understand what triggers them, which are both important for leadership development. Journaling is a great practice for anyone looking to improve their mental and emotional health. It increases self-awareness, which is important for leadership development because it helps people know their strengths, weaknesses, and the way they need to interact with others.
2. Heightened clarity
While writing in a journal helps leaders stay organized and have clarity on the tasks they need to undertake, this can also help them remain in control and stay on top of their responsibilities. When you write in a journal, it's easier to remember what needs to be done and you can check your progress on various tasks and projects. Plus, if you feel overwhelmed with all the tasks you have to do , journaling can be a great aid to decide on priorities and where to get started.
3. Increased creativity
Journal writing offers leaders an outlet for creativity by giving them the space to brainstorm new ideas or come up with solutions in a safe environment. It's important to mention that journal writing does not require a particular voice or tone, rather it records thoughts in a freeform manner. This gives people the ability to unlock themselves and bring their inner thoughts into the physical world, which can help with creative thinking.
4. A space for reflection
Writing in a journal provides a space where leaders can reflect on what they have achieved and how they want to continue moving forward. By reflecting, leaders will be able to reduce stress and become more productive as a result. This individual space also enables them to assess their own performance and behavior and provides them with an opportunity to reflect and learn from mistakes, such as identifying what factors led to successes and failures.
In summary, journaling is not purely for writing down thoughts and feelings, but it’s also an opportunity for leaders to reflect on their learnings and growth and what they want to achieve in the future. We might all be guilty of taking our time for granted, but we don't realize how much we are able to change until we take a look back at ourselves from a different perspective. Writing in a journal can help us understand our growth and progress more clearly and make better decisions about the future.
